CBI to question cousins of former IAF chief again

New Delhi: After questioning of alleged middleman Guido Haschke in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, the CBI will soon begin a fresh round of questioning of cousins of former IAF chief S P Tyagi to find out the end use of money paid to them.

Haschke, who was questioned first by Defence Ministry officials and later by the CBI, had told the probe agency that money was given to Tyagi brothers for the engineering works and meeting other administrative requirements in India, official sources said. Arrested in Switzerland in September last year and later extradited to Italy to face the trial, Haschke had denied that he had ever met the former IAF Chief or handed over any money to him to clear the VVIP helicopter deal in favour of AgustaWestland. Tyagi refused to comment on the development, saying, "I have been saying this earlier as well. I do not wish to say anything on this issue." A case was registered by CBI against Tyagi and 12 others for alleged cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter deal in which Rs.360 crore was said to have been paid as kickbacks. Now the CBI will be summoning his cousins--Sanjeev alias Julie and Rajeev alias Docsa and Sandeep for a fresh round of questioning as Haschke has alleged that he had paid money to them for engineering works at IDS Chandigarh, paying rents and meeting administrative expenses in India. They have been questioned last year during which they had denied any wrongdoings. CBI has alleged in its FIR that middleman Haschke through his Tunisia-based company Gordian Services Sarl entered into several consultancy contracts with AgustaWestland from 2004-05 onwards and "almost on back-to-back basis he also made consultancy contracts with the Tyagi brothers (former IAF chief`s cousins)".